Straw-stack former.



No. 731,862. Q PATENTED JUNE 23, 1903.

STRAW STACK FORMER.

APPLIUATIOH FILED OUT. 30, 1899. N0 MODEL. 2 BKBBTSSBBET 1.

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his odvbw I No. 731,862. PATBNTBD JUNE 23, 1903.

D. COOK.

STRAW STACK FORMER.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 30, 1899.

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UNITED STATES Patented June 23, 11903.

PATENT OFFICE.

V DANIEL COOK, OF VOORHIES, ILLINOIS.

STRAW-STACK FORM ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 731,862, dated June 23, 1903. Application filed October 30, 1899. erial No. 735,172. (No model.)

Beit known that I, DANIEL 000K, of Voorhies, in the county of Piatt and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Straw-Stack Former, of which the follow ing is a specification.

This invention enables a Wind-stacker to form a compact and symmetrical stack by limiting the distance to which the straw may be blown and acting against the pressure of the wind to pack the straw firmly in the desired position. It is exemplified in the structure hereinafter described and it is defined in the appended claim.

In its broadest sense the invention resides in a straw-confining band or curtain outlining the'dimensions of the stack on the sides toward which the straw is forced by the stacker, such bandor curtain being hoistable as the stack is formed, so as to confine the straw without preventing the wind from escaping.

In a narrower sense the invention resides in the details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter set'forth.

In thedrawings forming part of this specification, Figure l is a diagram showing a plan of the straw-retaining band and illustrating in a general way the mechanism preferably used to hoist and control it. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one of the uprights used in raisin g the band, together with the adjuncts thereof. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the upright 3s tion of the stack throughout their upper parts 2. They have pulleys 3 at their upper ends and pulleys 4 at their lower ends, and they and a fragment of a section of band.

The uprights 1 are inclined over the locaare preferably bent at the ground-line to form shoulders and pointed to penetrate the ground. The uprights are set at intervals around the base of the stack on the sides toward which the straw is carried by the stacker,

and as many are used as the size of the stack may require.

The band 5 is made in sections, each of which is attachable to its next adjoining neighbor by means of hooks and rings or 1 other detachable connections, and each is slidably connected at or near its center to an upright 1 2 by means of a loop 6 or its equivadetachable sections, and guy-ropes, as 10, are

fastened to uprights and to posts 11 or other fixtures wherever stays are needed. Liftlines 7 connect with the band adjacent to the uprights, and such lines run up to pulleys 3, downward to pulleys 4, and converge thence to a hitch-post 12 or other fixed point of attachment.

When the uprights, bands, and lines are properly placed, the thresher 14, which has been set on the open side of the space partly circumscribed by the band, discharges straw by wind-pressure through the swinging and telescoping tube 13, first forcing it compactly against the band and then distributing it around evenly over the base of the prospective stack. The band is high enough to arstack nearest the thresher to be firmly and symmetrically built. When the stacker-tube nears the ends of the stack in swinging back and forth, the hood of the tube may be turned, so as to direct the blast against the ends of the stack, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. When the straw rises to near the height of the band, the lines 7 are unhitched and pulled outward until the lower edge of the band is raised to near the top of the straw, when the operation hereinbefore described is repeated. This is done without change in effect until the inward-inclined parts 2 of the uprights are reached, when the band will be carried inward by subsequent raising operations and the stack will be rounded off.

By making the band and the brace-line 15 in detachable sections setting up and taking down the structure are facilitated.

I claim- A stack-former comprising a band encompassing the side of the stack toward which the straw is carried by the stacker, a plurality of uprights with which the band is slidably connected, such uprights being inclined In testimony whereof I sign my name in the over the stack at their upper ends, and lines presence of two subscribing witnesses. connected with the band and run over pulleys in the upper ends of the uprights, where- DANIEL COOK 5 by the band is carried upward and inward to Witnesses:

round off the stack, substantially as de- E. S. MCDONALD, scribed. L CHAS. G. POWERS. 

